MONKEY welfare has come under the spotlight as the NSPCA challenges Monkey Helpline over the amount of monkeys being kept for long periods of time at its premises.
Monkey Helpline’s Steve Smit and Carol Booth have reacted in outrage at allegations of monkey hoarding and animal cruelty as stated in a recent press release made by the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) after a visit by inspectors to the Westville-based rehabilitation facility.
Inspector Ainsley Hay, manager of the NSPCA’s Wildlife Protection Unit, together with representatives from the Kloof & Highway SPCA visited the facilities after a public complaint. According to Inspector Hay, more than 200 vervet monkeys are being kept at the residential home and property. Some of the monkeys have been confined for up to a year in parrot cages in the house because there is no space to create more outside cages to keep them in.
“These animals are denied basic behaviours and are testimony to a serious case of wild animal hoarding. Some vervet monkeys and some parrots were found to be without food and water and kept in filthy, cramped cages,” she said.
A warning in terms of the Animals Protection Act No 71 of 162 was issued. Serious welfare issues were to be corrected immediately and major improvements to facilities are to be effected over the next three months.
“Steve Smit has finally admitted that animal cruelty is occurring and that it is unacceptable to confine these animals unnecessarily,” said Inspector Hay. “Mr Smit has advised us that he is in the process of securing a new property. For the sake of these confined wild animals we hope that his plans come to fruition. We have been given his assurance, and it has been agreed, that if new and appropriate facilities have not been built and the monkeys moved out within three months, that he will personally euthanase these monkeys and end their suffering.”
According to Steve Smit the inspection occurred within weeks of Monkey Helpline standing up to the NSPCA by openly criticizing their primate euthanasia policy on the NSPCA Facebook page. Smit feels that the NSPCA needed a scapegoat to support their euthanasia decision after public outcry over their policy and Monkey Helpline has been vocal in their objections.
“We believe that the NSPCA has acted in bad faith and view this action on the part of the NSPCA as a deliberate and retaliatory attempt to undermine the integrity of Monkey Helpline after we recently criticized their primate euthanasia ruling publicly on their Facebook page, and challenged the NSPCA to convene provincial meetings for all interested and affected parties to address the crisis facing indigenous primates in South Africa,” said Steve Smit. “The NSPCA has not responded to our call for the holding of these meetings.”
Smit felt that the allegations that it was a serious case of wild animal hoarding was ridiculous. Monkey Helpline deals with one thousand rescue callouts every year, rescuing an average of three monkeys every day throughout most of the year. Of these call outs, 75 per cent of the rescues end in the death of the monkey concerned, often by means of euthanasia due to the extreme nature of the animals illness or injury or many are dead on arrival or die before, during or after veterinary treatment. Smit says the 211 monkeys currently at the property average 30 monkeys a year for the seven years they have been in operation and works out to 2.5 monkeys a month kept out of on average 90 rescues made a month.
Smit said that the 211 monkeys at the sanctuary are either undergoing veterinary treatment, waiting to be released back into the wild or waiting until the new rehabilitation centre at Camperdown has been completed as some of them are unable to be returned to the wild. The Anthony Lawrence Earth Organization has promised Monkey Helpline 10 hectares of land to build a rehabilitation centre.
The NSPCA’s policy states, “Rule 6.18 All sick and injured vervet monkeys and baboons admitted to an SPCA must be humanely euthanased. All non-injured primates must be kept for five days only and then euthanised. This period is to allow for a permit holder, in terms of the relevant nature conservation legislation, to claim the primate. This Rule will be revised on a 6-monthly basis.”
“We believe that the NSPCA came to our property with the express intention of finding problems for which they could issue us with a warning. No monkey, or for that matter any other animal in our care, goes a single day without fresh food and water. We are committed to providing for the basic needs and more of all the animals in our care, and the NSPCA inspector who carried out the inspection would have to admit that all the animals are physically in good condition. The inspector neglects to mention that even as she was critical of the absence of water in some of the clinic cages, I pointed out the pile of newly washed food and water containers that would be placed back into the cages shortly”.
Smit says that Inspector Ainsley’s claims that he has finally admitted that animal cruelty is occurring and that it is unacceptable to confine these animals unnecessarily is both incorrect and presented out of context. He says that he agrees that unnecessary confinement for gratuitous reasons is cruel, but the confinement of monkeys in the Monkey Helpline clinic is not “unnecessary” and is also the only option available to Monkey Helpline as it moves towards establishing the new rehabilitation facility. Smit asserts that it is a case of, “the end justifying the means”.
The NSPCA’s decision to euthanize any primates brought into an SPCA is due to there belief that there are not enough credible rehabilitation centres or appropriate release sites in SA which is what leads to primate hoarding and inadequate care. They feel Monkey Helpline is a prime example of why they have this policy.
Inspector Hay confirmed this. “Based on the information that the unit has obtained, minimal releases are occurring at primate rehabilitation centres in KZN, and almost every single satellite facility is now gathering primates for troop formation with no secured release sites. There are numerous troops of primates that are ready for release being kept in small, pre-release cages for extended periods. The minimum amount of time for a troop to be in captivity to allow their successful release is 3 years. But if no release sites are available their captivity continues indefinitely. All of the above mentioned factors will undoubtedly lead to their compromised welfare. It cannot be justified that injured, diseased and traumatized primates be put through the trauma of treatment and rehabilitation when there is no guarantee that these animals will be returned to the wild. ”
Smit challenged the NSPCA inspector’s concerns about the length of time that monkeys were being kept confined. “We too are not comfortable with monkeys being confined beyond the time required for recovery from the injury or illness that pre-empted their rescue in the first place, but the reality is that this initial discomfort will more than be compensated for when the monkeys move to spacious sanctuary and rehabilitation enclosures. If this means that some monkeys will have spent a year in such close confinement, it also means that they will at least be alive to enjoy the remaining five, ten or even twenty years of life that will follow. Had they not been rescued they would now be dead, and most would have suffered horribly before dying.”
Smit feels the NSPCA needs to start to taking a more proactive role in addressing the crisis facing monkeys and baboons in South Africa and work together with the rehabilitation centres rather than against.
“We would welcome the SPCA coming on board. They could sub – contract to rehabilitation centres, so they could control the situation and if they not happy with the release time, they would then have the right to remove the monkey,” said Steve.
In response to whether the NSPCA is willing to put money into building or supporting rehabilitation centres for displaced monkeys or working together with Monkey Helpline to come to a solution, Inspector Hay responded, “Our mandate is the prevention of cruelty to animals, and the enforcement of the Animals Protection Act No 71 of 1962. It is not within our mandate or ambit to provide sanctuary and or rehabilitation for wild animals. Both the NSPCA and local SPCA’s are involved in rescue, temporary care and protection via education and advising members of public. Almost all other rehabilitation centres are able to source their own funds, employ their own staff and care for their animals to high standards, without allowing animal cruelty to occur at their own facilities. We have provided various recommendations to Monkey Helpline to improve the welfare of the animals in their care. For over a year and a half these recommendations have been ignored and the only changes that we have seen is that they have built more cages, and all of these cages are now full, so instead of decreasing the numbers of animals in their care as recommended, these numbers are just increasing every time we inspect the premises.”
“We will not enter into meetings with facilities that are under investigation on topics other that the animal welfare concerns we have at their facilities. We are open and transparent regarding our policies and rulings relating to all animals in South Africa, and are more than willing to explain these to interested parties,” said Hay. “We fail to understand what the furore regarding this incident is about. This is obviously yet another case of well intentioned people that start out with the best intentions, and become overwhelmed by the enormity of the task that they have undertaken, and this leads to compromised welfare for the animals in their care. We see this time and time again, throughout many spectres of animal rescue.”
She continued, “Steve and Carol are possibly the most talented monkey catchers that I know of, they do not accept no for an answer, and will persevere until they have caught a monkey in need. This is commendable, and if they had stuck to rescuing animals in need and treating them and releasing them back to their troops as soon as recovered, we would have absolutely no problems. The problem remains that this is no longer their core focus, and they have began accumulating non-releasable animals in tiny cages, with only the vague hope of new land being secured to create sanctuary enclosures for them. The fact of the matter is that we have found contraventions of the Animals Protection at this facility. We did not fabricate these contraventions, or edit the footage to create these contraventions.”
The NSPCA recommends that if a person finds an injured monkey they call their nearest SPCA or wildlife rehabilitation centre or provincial Nature Conservation.
“We have very good working relationships with a variety of wildlife rehabilitation centres and sanctuaries throughout the country. However when facilities do not comply with the appropriate standards we cannot send animals on to them as their welfare cannot be guaranteed.”
Smit said, “We are not doing anything illegal and have never prevented Inspectors or the public from visiting our premises. We have volunteer days and the public visiting to drop off donations throughout the week and are more than willing to show people around the premises.”
